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Weekly Tip: Strategies to Jump Start Your Year

by Jeri Asaro

Your first day of school is soon to arrive. The students will be entering your room, and you will most likely be with those same students for a marking period, a semester, or the entire school year. The first week, followed by the first month of school is tremendously important. Trust me; I am in no way overstating my view here. You must take those first moments together seriously. With that first impression, students will make their decisions about you. How you approach your first few hours, and then days, with your students will set the tone and pace for the entire year. What steps can you take from day one which will effectively begin the year and will help you to find success all year long?

                Let’s start with the biggest basic in education, classroom management. According to research, strong classroom management has the greatest effect on student learning – more than school demographics, culture, or curriculum. But, what exactly is classroom management? There is a working definition I like to use. Classroom management is managing student behavior, plus the physical learning environment, including the processes and the materials, so that instruction can be facilitated and optimal learning can occur. Planning, organization, and time management will maximize student engagement time and ultimately affect learning! It is a very big picture, but ultimately, behind every successful teacher is a well-managed classroom of students. The best classroom teachers you had as a student; those memorable teachers who became role models for you; were, no doubt, strong classroom managers.

                Teachers who are good managers foster a productive working environment which is conducive to learning. It is evident because students are involved, cooperative, and enjoy the class. The biggest concern of novice teachers today is classroom management and with good reason because statistics show that 50-percent of novice teachers leave the profession during the first five-years feeling discouraged, frustrated and overwhelmed. Controlling a classroom is likely the most difficult task of any teacher, especially a new teacher, but a positive learning environment is essential for the success of everyone in the room – including you.

                As with all classroom management practices, there are many different tactics to try. You need to choose ideas that work in your classroom by taking into account the following:

1.      the age of your students

2.      the personality of the overall class grouping

3.      your classroom objectives

4.      your own personal teaching style

                This article will offer you a sampling of ideas to consider and use during the first month of school. These suggestions will help you to begin the year with success, but keep in mind; there are no quick fixes. Start the year testing these strategies and stick with those ideas that work for you all year long. Some strategies may take more time to be successful than others, so persist for some time before you give up. Take this list seriously. I know it may seem long and overwhelming, but if followed, the effort is worth it. Here goes:

Look the part. You are a teacher and it is an essential profession. Looking professional is important and helps you to protect your positive image. Students look at everything from fingernails to shoes, and they comment to each other about it. Do not misunderstand me; you do not need to wear designer clothing or “apple” sweaters and neck ties, but you must look like the authority figure in the room, especially during your first few years of teaching. Whether you want to believe it or not, it does make a difference. Your clothing choices and personal grooming habits can equal respect, credibility, acceptance, and most importantly, authority.                                    

Be sure your classroom is ready for instruction before students enter the room. Confusion leads to problems and then misbehavior. If the room is ready in advance, the teacher is not distracted while trying to get the students working. All materials need to be geared up when the bell rings – this includes books, videos, papers, assignments, etc. Test equipment and any form of technology before using it. If you are a traveling teacher, this may mean that you need to claim a section of the board as your own, and write on this section every morning when you get in, so the classroom is ready before you enter it with the class. Do not be afraid to ask for the equipment you might need, such as an easel, whiteboard, or a rolling cart.

If at all possible, create a seating arrangement for the assignment and have the desks ready in advance. The physical arrangement of seating is a basic element of classroom management. Each room layout has its own purpose. There are advantages and disadvantages with all seating arrangements. You may need to have students move their desks when they come in the room, and return them before they leave. If it facilitates the lesson you are going to teach, the moving effort may be worth the price of the short time of confusion. For the first few days of school, you may want to place students in alphabetical order. Some teachers find alphabetizing first names to be more successful than last names. Another idea is to let students sit where they want for the first few days and then create an assigned seating arrangement based on who sits with whom. It can be a very good idea to find out the chatty students right away and move them apart before week two gets into full swing. Rather than traditional rows, some teachers prefer a “U” arrangement so that there is easy access to every student.

Write a short, bulleted daily agenda on the board. The agenda can include a “Do Now” activity so that students get started with an assignment immediately. This step will allow you to have a few minutes to check homework, take attendance, or get the students to focus on the task at hand. Sometimes these “Do Now” assignments can be a part of your anticipatory set/opening for your active learning lesson. Personally, I have used brainteasers, problems of the day, SAT questions, journal prompts, artistic drawings, similes/metaphors, and reactions to famous quotes. For the first few days of school, the “Do Now” can be preparation for an icebreaker activity. An agenda gives you a plan to refer to and to follow. It also gives you the opportunity to write down (and later review) the objectives of your lesson for your students. It creates an immediate pace for the classroom environment. Best of all, if administrators visit your room, they are always thrilled to see objectives written on the board. It shows them, and your students, that you take your curriculum seriously.

The classroom door is your friend! When at all possible, be at the classroom door to welcome students. Guide them to meet your expectations from the minute they enter your room. “Hi! Please come in, find your seat, and read the board.” “Get started on your “Do Now” activity and take out your homework.” “Move your desks in small groups and begin the “Do Now” activity written on the board.” Then, close the door soon after students are expected to be in the room. Stand by the door and let the late students in yourself, so they do not disturb the class. It is difficult for any student to play the class clown when you are holding the door for them, while you are continuing to make your initial statements to the rest of the class. Their interruption is obvious to everyone. Hopefully, you will find that students will not want to be late to your class because you are so firm about beginning on time.

Make yourself the center of attention before you get your lesson started. Do not attempt to teach a class that is not focusing their attention on you. Students can never get the impression that you are willing to compete with them for the attention of others. If you take any other action but forcing the class to pay attention, you are sending the message that you accept their disruptions, and it is permissible to talk when you are talking. When students are not listening to you, or are not doing the assignment, stop and say, “I see six people doing when is expected of them.” Other students will then begin to join the six behaved students. Then say, “I now see 10 students following the directions of the day.” As more students get quiet, the class will begin to focus.

Speak softly and in a relaxed tone. Force your students to quiet down and listen to your words. If they sense they are about to do something active and fun, they will be ready to listen to you. Do not allow yourself to shout over the students. Get into the habit of speaking in a normal voice. Be structured and disciplined without being loud, controlling, and unkind. Even when students misbehave, you should stay controlled and speak in a firm, but normal, voice. Students will learn that to succeed and enjoy in your class, they have to listen to you; and to listen they need to be quiet.

Know the difference between a rule and a procedure, and make sure your students know as well. Rules are expectations for behavior; students are held accountable for following rules. When rules are broken, a pre-determined discipline plan needs to be followed. What steps will you take when students break a rule? You need to consider those steps in advance, and you also need to know the school’s policies for discipline. Procedures are daily routines that move the class forward, but students are able to complete them with little teacher assistance. More teachers than I can count, both novice and seasoned, come to me when they are having discipline problems in their classroom. My first question is always – What is your discipline plan? They most often give me a list of consequences. But, as soon as I begin asking questions, I find out that there is a plan, but it is not being used! You need to use the plan you create.

Create predictable classroom routines for the various transition periods during the day. Practice these routines until they become known procedures. These regular and simple routines force your class to focus and get quiet. Little wasted time, confusion, or disruption will be found in the classroom filled with predictable routines. For example, how do the students enter and exit the classroom? What are the procedures for collecting papers, journals, supplies, and the like? What do students need to do to get their pencils sharpened? If a student is finished early, what do they do while they are waiting? Time between activities is an open invitation for students to get out of hand. Ultimately, strong procedures will help you to keep transition time to a minimum. The classroom climate that practices routines and procedures creates a work-oriented environment, but one that is both relaxed and pleasant.

Use a focus technique, and make it one of your regular procedures. There are many focus strategies to try, and once you find one or two that work – be consistent. One focus strategy is to practice “repeat after me” training. Do or say something that students have to repeat. It could be a “miming action” that they have to copy (like patting their heads, clapping their hands, or thumbs up). Practice it with the class. Do it when they do not expect it and time them. The entire class should be quiet quickly, by no more than three requests to “repeat after me.” Another idea I have seen is to buy a “rainstick,” and use the sound to get the attention of the class. Some teachers blink the lights. Once you have a quiet class, wait a few extra seconds before you begin to speak. Draw attention to the silence in the room, so they are aware of how the “quiet” sounds.   

Recruit your students to help you with the daily steps of running a classroom. At every grade level, students will gladly help you to pass out papers, collect papers, pass out journals, distribute and collect supplies, etc. If you have an elementary classroom, it is appropriate to have a “chore” list and rotate students’ names accordingly. Many students with behavioral issues act the way they do because they need to move around. Enlisting such students to help you, and making sure they meet your expectations, can often improve the relationship between you and that student. Inevitably, when you improve that relationship, your classroom will be a more peaceful place.

Get to know your students. Set high expectations for their performance, and have a positive outlook for student success in all areas. The minute you become negative, their attitude will follow yours. Enlist parents/guardians to help in the task of getting to know their child. Ask them to fill out a questionnaire. Have students write mini-autobiographies or create projects based on their strengths and weaknesses. Do small icebreaker activities for a few weeks rather than just the first day. Knowing students helps you to keep your expectations high for each individual student, and it assists you in making those personal connections, which in the end, lead to better classroom behavior.

As you plan your lessons, consider breaking up your class period into smaller segments and include two-to-three short activities. An effective teaching strategy is to begin with a “Do Now” activity; move to a short teacher-focused segment; then, include a student-centered activity, and finally end with a closing activity to assess if your students understood the lesson and its objective. If you are looking for easy active learning strategies to try, please refer to my column Active, Engaged and Learning - Helping Your Classroom Buzz with Excitement. It can be found under the Featured Monthly Columns section of the website.

Model what you expect. Setting high expectations for all students is of the utmost importance, but they cannot read your mind. When possible, provide students with a model of what you expect. If students are making a poster, show them a few posters from previous years (or create one of your own). If students are writing a poem, provide them with a poem created in a previous year or one written by you. When modeling, sometimes it helps to show the “A,” “B,” and “C” example and explain why points were lost using the provided checklist/rubric. If creating a brand new example, make it a good one, but not so good that students will lose interest and enthusiasm for the assignment before they even begin.

For papers and projects, use rubrics and checklists. There are many sites on the internet for creating rubrics, or you can simply create a checklist of your expectations, and give these to your students with the project sheet. This option gives every student the chance to meet your listed expectations, and you can use the same checklist when you grade their assignment. These steps allow for fair grading which is rarely disputed by students or parents/guardians because they had the list of expectations upfront.

Use student papers to create bulletin boards, especially at the beginning of the year when Back to School Night is around the corner. Have students create colorful Venn diagrams, poems, paragraphs, posters, etc. and allow them to put their names on the BACK of the items so that other students do not know who did what. This “name” step stops students from comparing to one another (and parents from comparing their child to other children), and also teasing each other if a particular paper is different than everyone else’s. Even teens like to see their work displayed, but they do not necessarily want to draw attention from others to themselves. 

Circulate, circulate, and circulate! Rarely, if ever, sit at your desk. Use proximity techniques to keep students on task. Make the rounds; work the room; constantly check progress. When an assignment is given, take two-to-three minutes to allow students to begin working on their own. Then, begin walking around. When students see you move towards them, they will get on task. Offer individual attention to struggling students/groups. Do not interrupt the whole class; do not speak loudly, or make any new announcements unless the majority of the class seems to be struggling with the same situation. Move around!

Anticipate problems before they occur. Monitor all interactions in your room. As soon as you see something developing which is inappropriate, speak to the involved students using “I” messages. “I expect you to . . . I need you to . . . and follow the “I” message with clear descriptions of what the student is supposed to do. Take the opportunity to forewarn students so that a situation does not progress beyond the point of a simple reminder. Be proactive, rather than reactive, in all your discipline approaches.

Offer behavior choices to your students. A positive technique is to allow a student to choose his or her own consequence for behavior. Do not use sarcasm or anger when using this technique. “You simply cannot continue to work as you are working now. You can either do it alone, or follow my guidelines and work with your group. What is your choice?” “If you cannot properly do that assignment, you can sit and do it with me. What is your choice?” “Would you rather continue with your friends on that project, or write an essay on the topic? The choice is yours.” After the choice is given, allow the student a minute to decide. In most every circumstance, students will choose the option you really want them to choose. Plus, this tactic will help them to save face with their peers.

Create interesting and valuable homework assignments that coordinate with upcoming class assignments. Getting students to do homework is becoming more and more difficult. The homework must be meaningful, difficult to copy from someone else, and valuable to the upcoming class lesson. Yes, this type of homework takes some creative thinking, but if well-prepared, students will do the work. Example: create five game questions for chapter 12; write a poem at home and be prepared for class where you will create a visual representation of that poem. If students do not complete the homework assignment, they are not allowed to take part in the fun classroom assignment on the scheduled day. 

Be patient. Kids are kids. From pre-school to senior year, they do not always listen the first or second time. Due to different learning styles among students, you will likely need to explain instructions twice, and in two different ways. Then, you could still have to walk around and explain them again to individuals who are struggling. Face it; it is a fact of life. If you lose your patience, students will become fearful of you. To be a teacher is to be patient. They go hand-in-hand.

Do not EVER hold grudges. You need to establish a pattern with your students, so they know that you are no longer upset. If you realize you were too hard on a student, do not be afraid to apologize either privately to that student, or publicly if you embarrassed them in front of their peers. We teach children. They learn from us. Students will respect you more if you discipline them, yet show appreciation of them as human beings.

Have a sense of humor. We work with kids! Unexpected and often silly things happen, and they are not done on purpose. Sometimes the best way to approach the situation is to use slight sarcasm and a big grin. The most awful moments can be easily handled when students know you are supportive of them. Smile! Giggle! Even laugh sometimes!

Praise, commend, and admire. When the students do something you appreciate or they exceed your expectations, let them know how pleased you are. You do not always have to use words, a simple “thumbs up” or a personal nod or wink can go a long way to make a child feel self-confident in your room, without embarrassing that student in front of his/her peers.

Use a daily planner. This planner can be in the form of a palm pilot, iPhone, Blackberry, small notebook, or simply a desk/blotter calendar. Place your “to-do” lists and important reminders here. Placing sticky notes on the desk/blotter calendar or notebook planner can be helpful. Use the same location for everything. If you travel from room to room, you might want to try having one area in each room.

Think your lessons all the way through before you teach them. The day before teaching the lesson, go through it in your mind step-by-step. Imagine you are the student. While doing so, pull out all the needed supplies, and write down anything you are likely to forget. You can even use your planner to help with this task.

Each Friday, organize yourself for the next week. Make sure everything is set-out in each classroom for Monday’s lesson, and make lists for the other days of the next week. Each day (or morning), prepare for the next day.

Make three days worth of emergency substitute plans (unless your school district requires more). Be sure the work is meaningful (if it involves a video, create a worksheet or puzzle to go with the video). Have a class set of puzzles, etc. as filler material. Use the internet to find a few substitute folder ideas and print these out for the emergency plans. You also need attendance sheets, seating charts, disciplinary slips, your schedule, class lists, notepad, pens, and include a package of mints or hard candies and a bottle of water.

Remember the importance of parents/guardians. Protect your reputation with the students and with the parents by always remaining professional. Stay in contact with parents via the phone or e-mail. When using the phone, make an advance list so that you stay on task during the conversation. When using e-mail, watch your tone. Have a trusted colleague read the e-mail before you send it.

Keep in mind that Back to School Night is your early opportunity to get parents on your side. On any school calendar, one of the most important events is Back to School Night. For the parents of your new students, you get the chance to set the tone for your entire year. In one short presentation, you have the opportunity to share your goals, expectations, credentials, classroom rules and policies, and philosophies. Your ultimate outcome is to open the door to trust, respect, and cooperation. Just about all teachers, even experienced ones, get nervous about Back to School Night. It is certainly one night to put your best foot forward and be well prepared. If you leave parents with a positive impression of life in your classroom, they are more likely to listen to you later in the year if you call with concerns. On the other hand, they will feel complimented if you call them with good news because you left an impression they respected. If parent/teacher conferences are a part of your school’s routines, please refer to my previous article Parent/Teacher Conferences: A Road Map through the Hills and Valleys of Successful Collaboration. It can be found with the Featured Columns located under New Teachers. Always remember; every student is his or her parent’s most precious commodity. They need to leave your room at the end of your presentation trusting you and believing that you have the best interest of their child in your mind.